When it's mid-February and your team is on the NCAA tournamentbubble, it's not enough to consider won-loss records and pollrankings when sizing up your situation. So before Connecticut'sFeb. 13 matchup against Boston College, coach Jim Calhoun madesure his Huskies knew that, besides having the best record inthe Big East, the Eagles were ranked No. 9 in the RPI. Bycontrast, UConn was a bubbly 68th. "I told them, 'Aren't welucky we have BC tonight? They can really help us,'" Calhoun says.

The Huskies helped themselves considerably with an 82-71 victory,moving up 16 positions in the RPI. UConn needed that win becausethis year features an unusually large number of teams jockeyingfor an unusually small number of spots. (Sixty-five teams willget bids this year, with the two lowest-ranked teams according tothe NCAA selection committee competing in a preliminary-roundgame.)

The numbers certainly don't bode well for bubble teams. Threeweeks before Selection Sunday, it appeared that 33 schools fromthe eight power conferences had, barring total collapses, lockedup bids. Throw in the automatic bids that go to the other 26conference champions and that left all of six spots for teams onthe bubble. "You could go through each conference and make a casefor a lot of people," Calhoun says.

We did, and here's how we picture them:

CRYSTAL CLEAR The following leagues look pretty muchset--pending possible surprises in conference tournaments. TheACC should receive six bids (North Carolina, Duke, Virginia,Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Maryland); the Big Ten is a lockfor five (Illinois, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Indiana and Iowa)and could gobble up two bubble entries (Ohio State and PennState). The Pac-10 should get five (Stanford, Arizona, UCLA, USCand Cal). The Big 12 can count on four (Iowa State, Kansas,Oklahoma and Texas). The Atlantic 10 will have to settle for two(St. Joe's and Xavier).

STILL MURKY The last three weeks will be volatile in the BigEast and the SEC. In the tournament field are Boston College,Providence, Notre Dame, Syracuse and Georgetown from the BigEast, and Kentucky, Alabama, Florida and Ole Miss from the SEC.Twelve teams from these two leagues are still in the hunt forthe aforementioned six NCAA berths. Georgia and Tennessee arelimping to the finish line in the SEC, but both are ranked inthe top 20 of the RPI and thus have inside tracks. The mostsurprising bubble team is probably Seton Hall, which was 13-10through Sunday.

UP FOR GRABS With only one or two more at-large bids left todole out after the Big East and SEC are accommodated, who getswhat will depend on what happens in the tournaments of thelower-rated conferences. If Cincinnati (Conference USA) andFresno State (WAC) win their respective championships, theymight be the lone representatives from their leagues. Likewise,if Butler (Midwest Collegiate), Creighton (Missouri Valley),Georgia State (Trans American), Gonzaga (West Coast) or UCIrvine (Big West) doesn't win its league title, itsregular-season record could compel the selection committee toburst the bubble on the likes of St. John's or Arkansas. "Ithink we have a strong case," Butler coach Thad Motta says,whose Bulldogs were 18-7 through Sunday, "but at our level youcan never be sure."

Indeed, for Butler and all the other teams on the bubble, there'sno such thing as a sure thing.

Divine ProvidenceFriars Repair Tarnished Image

For as long as he lives, Tim Welsh will never forget the phonecall. Early one morning last April, shortly after the conclusionof an 11-19 season, the Providence coach was awakened at home bya campus security man, who was calling to say that some ofWelsh's players had been arrested following a brutal off-campusfight involving 11 people, most of them Providence students. "Iremember driving into the office thinking, Well, it can't be asbad as they told me it was," Welsh says.

Actually, it was worse. Eight players were implicated in thebrawl, three of whom--one starter and two subs--would be expelledin May. The fight required two non-basketball-playing students toundergo reconstructive facial surgery and left the program with ahuge black eye. "I've been around basketball since age five, butnothing I've experienced could prepare me for that," says Welsh,who is in his third season at Providence. "It was a nightmare forall of us. The stories people were writing about us read likeobituaries."

Many teams would have come unglued by the events of last April,but the Friars, five of whom were put on probation for theirroles in the brawl, stuck together. After last Saturday'shard-fought 81-73 loss to No. 9 Boston College, Providence stoodsecond in the East division of the Big East with a 9-4 record(18-7 overall) and appeared headed for the NCAA tournament forthe first time in four seasons. The Friars don't have anyoneranked among the top 20 scorers in the conference. Nine playersare scoring between 5.1 and 11.1 points per game, and 10 averagedouble-figure minutes. "A team can't win if it's full of selfishguys who are arguing over the ball," says 5'9" junior point guardJohn Linehan. "On our team anybody can have a great game."

While No. 25 Providence is led by a veteran core that includesErron Maxey (11.0 points per game), a 6'6" senior forward, and7'2" senior center Karim Shabazz (8.7 points per game, 7.1rebounds per game), a Florida State transfer who tested the NBAwaters last spring before returning to school, Linehan is theclosest thing the Friars have to a star. Arguably the nation'spremier defensive guard, Linehan was fourth in the nation insteals in 1998-99 with a 3.3 average, but last season he'd playedonly six games when he suffered a hernia that would require threeoperations. Linehan was briefly confined to a wheelchair afterthe third surgery and couldn't tie his shoes for several months,but he's leading the conference in steals (3.32 a game). "Thereare a lot of quick guys, but they don't have the determination toget it done on defense," he says. Linehan isn't the Big East'sbest player, but he may be its most valuable: Providence was 2-3in late November while he sat out with a pulled hamstring.

As much as Welsh wants the program to put the ugliness of lastspring behind it, he reminds his players that bad news is alwaysjust a phone call away. In October he took the Friars on a visitto a Providence police station for a lecture on domesticviolence, and he has repeatedly taped articles to the chalkboardin the locker room that chronicle the misdeeds of college and proathletes around the country. "I've always been of the mind-setthat it's not what happens that's important, it's how you reactto it," Welsh says. "That's why I'm so proud of them. These guysare a joy to coach. They don't care about points and minutes,they just care about winning."

Sankes Stars at Holy CrossA Crusade to Enjoy the Game

Josh Sankes has dealt with adversity since the day he was born.His mother, Heidi, had trouble delivering him because he was anoversized infant at 10 pounds, five ounces and 23 inches long,and a lack of oxygen to his brain left him with a slight case ofcerebral palsy. As he grew (and grew and grew), he had to contendwith schoolmates who called him Lurch, and he had to attend aspecial occupational therapy class at school to help him managethe tremors caused by his illness. As a 6'11", 215-pound seniorat Buffalo's St. Joseph's High in 1996, Sankes played well enoughto earn a scholarship to Rutgers, but he transferred following adisappointing sophomore season that included a humiliatingincident in which Sankes and three others were forced to run windsprints in the nude.

No wonder Sankes, now a senior at Holy Cross, says he feels"reborn" these days while he plays a pivotal role in theCrusaders' surprising success. After setting a school record forblocks (69) and finishing second in the nation in rebounding(11.9 average) as a junior, Sankes was leading Holy Cross thisseason, through Sunday, in scoring (12.5), rebounding (9.2) andblocks (2.3) while making 55.2% of his shots. More important,after finishing 10-18 a year ago, the Crusaders, who haven't beento the NCAA tournament since 1993, had a 20-5 record and hadclinched first place in the Patriot League with a 10-1 mark. NowSankes is carrying himself with a confidence that seemedunimaginable two years ago. "It's mind-boggling how far he'scome," says Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard. "He's dealt with alot of things without trying to make people feel sorry for him."

Sankes contemplated giving up basketball shortly after decidingto leave Rutgers in the spring of 1998. More than a year later, aNew Jersey newspaper reported that Scarlet Knights coach KevinBannon had held a free-throw-shooting contest in December 1997that concluded with Sankes, one other player and two studentmanagers having to run naked in front of the rest of the team.Sankes, who for 21 months didn't tell his parents about theincident because he was too embarrassed, joined two others in alawsuit against the school and Bannon that contended their civilrights had been violated. (The suit was dismissed in February2000 by a New Jersey Superior Court, but the plaintiffs areappealing.) Sankes decided to continue his career at Holy Cross,but he remained ambivalent about playing. A week after vomitingfrom nervousness before his first individual workout in thespring of '99, Sankes told Willard that he was thinking aboutquitting. He changed his mind after a long talk in Willard'soffice.

Sankes's hands still shake as a result of his cerebral palsy, asymptom that becomes exacerbated when he gets nervous. Thetremors are especially detrimental at the free throw line. Atweek's end he had made only 55.9% of his foul shots, though he isworking with a hypnotist to keep the shaking in check. Meanwhile,he has become something of a cult figure in Worcester, Mass.,where a row of students show up at Holy Cross home games wearingT-shirts that spell out his surname. "This is one of the firsttimes in my life when basketball has been really fun," Sankessays. "It seems I've been working so hard my whole life, and younever know if you're going to make it. I feel a great sense ofrelief."

For complete scores and recruiting news, plus more news from SethDavis and Grant Wahl, go to cnnsi.com/basketball/college.

COLOR PHOTO: JOHN BIEVER The Buckeyes are one of many power-conference teams fighting for a scant few at-large bids. COLOR PHOTO: DAMIAN STROHMEYER Maxey has helped Providence go from 11-19 to the top of the Big East. COLOR ILLUSTRATION: ILLUSTRATION BY JONATHAN CARLSON

WEEKLY SEED REPORT

The battle between Duke and North Carolina for the No. 1 seed inthe East--and two games at cozy Greensboro Coliseum--remainedunresolved as both teams lost last week. The Tar Heels were upsetby Clemson and the Blue Devils fell at Virginia, so it nowappears the matter won't be settled until their rematch in ChapelHill on March 4 at the earliest. A North Carolina win wouldprobably seal the seed; a Duke victory would set up a possiblerubber match in the ACC tournament final.

Who knew that MAC stood for Maniacally Attired Conference?Through Sunday, Bowling Green was 6-0 since coach Dan Dakichbegan wearing his sport coat inside out in an effort to loosen upthe Falcons. Meanwhile, Ohio was 2-1 since coach Larry Hunter hadpatches sewn over the players' names on the backs of theirjerseys. "You have to play for the name on the front," saysHunter...

Tennessee had lost seven of its last nine games, and sophomoreforward Ron Slay helpfully explained why: "In the first 30minutes everybody is basically worrying about himself, and thelast 10 minutes, everybody is looking at the clock, like, Damn,we're losing." Vols coach Jerry Green is neck-and-neck withMaryland's Gary Williams for worst coaching job of the year...

During a tense moment in North Carolina's 85-83 win over Duke onFeb. 1, Tar Heels coach Matt Doherty tried to lighten the mood bysaying, "Duke still has the ugliest cheerleaders in the ACC."Word got out and last week Doherty wrote a letter of apology tothe Duke cheerleading squad...

Hats off to the Rutgers women's team, which handed No. 1 NotreDame a 54-53 loss, the Irish's first of the season. Only twodays earlier the Scarlet Knights had been embarrassed by UConn70-45...

TCU may be one of the hardest places in the country to getkicked off the basketball team (just ask Lee Nailon), but thatdidn't stop coach Billy Tubbs from dismissing starters MyronAnthony and Greedy Daniels last week for "an undisclosedviolation of team rules."

Before he became the premier postseason performer of his generation, the Patriots icon was a middling college quarterback who invited skepticism, even scorn, from fans and his coaches. That was all—and that was everything